Estrogens and female liver health

Abstract Due to declining estrogen levels during menopause, NAFLD prevalence is higher in postmenopausal women compared to in premenopausal women or in men. Postmenopausal women are more susceptible to weight gain, fat redistribution and dyslipidemia, all major hallmarks of metabolic syndrome associated with increased NAFLD risk. Gut microbiota plays important roles in development of gastrointestinal tract, metabolism and immunity. Host-microbe interactions allows regulation of a wide range of pathways that affect healthy and diseased physiology. Recent advances in – omics technologies, such as microbiome, transcriptome and metabolome analysis, provided evidence that estrogens and intestinal microbiota (IM) can collectively influence obesity, inflammatory disease, diabetes, and cancers. By understanding underlying mechanisms of estrogens and microbiota crosstalk, we might design dietary and pharmacological interventions to alleviate the metabolic syndrome and NAFLD.